The Doctor's Therapy
by dragonprincess1988
Summary: The Doctor is in a strange place...even for him, and ends up with a highly unlikely companion. Warning: Spoilers for all of season 4.
1. Chapter 1

"Hello, what's your name?"

The Doctor turned around to see a short strawberry blonde haired woman with glasses sitting at a desk. "I'm sorry, what?"

The lady stared at him for a moment. "I need your name, sir, for the book." She held up what seemed to be an appointment book.

The Doctor glanced around at what he thought looked an awful lot like a waiting room. "Oh, right, of course. I'm John Smith." He was still trying to figure out where he was, and what was going on. One moment he had been in the Tardis trying to find the chocolate covered espresso beans to lure the Jpomner out and the next he was here, wherever here was. He was pretty sure it was earth. Only humans made fake plants, and put them anywhere they could for no purpose. Not to mention only humans liked air fresheners made of chemicals that don't even smell like anything good. He sniffed the air absentmindedly. Yeah, this was definitely earth.

The woman behind the desk gave him a small smile. "Right, you're a bit early for your appointment, Mr. Smith. Please, have a seat, and she'll be with you shortly."

He was about to ask what appoint and with whom, but he was interrupted when another man walked in. "Hi Janice."

The woman behind the desk smiled brightly. "Hi Tom, how are you today?" The Doctor rolled his eyes. Great now he had to listen to this. He still had no idea what the hell he was doing here, how he got here, or better yet how to get back to the Tardis.

Tom handed her a white plastic bag as he answered. "I'm fine, when are you going to order something new for lunch?"

Janice laughed as she took the bag. "When I find something other than this," she shook the bag in his face, "that doesn't taste like old shoe."

Tom was about to reply when a door to The Doctor's left opened and a tall woman with dark hair and bright green eyes stepped out. "Are you two done with your banter yet, or should I wait a few more moments?"

Tom and Janice turned a dark shade of red and nodded simultaneously. Janice cleared her throat before speaking. "Your next appointment is here if you're ready for him."

The dark haired woman turned to The Doctor and stared at him for a moment. "I'm sorry I don't recognize you, this must be your first time here. Can I ask how you found me?"

The Doctor wasn't exactly sure how to answer that question, lucky for him Janice took the opportunity away from him. "This is Mr. Smith. He called last week and said that a friend recommended you to him."

The dark haired woman nodded to Janice, "Janice, you can leave if you want this is my last appointment for today." She then turned her attention back to The Doctor. "Right, well, why don't we step into my office?" The Doctor silently followed still trying to figure out what was going on here. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable." The Doctor sat in a big brown leather chair as the woman sat in a high backed black leather office chair. "So, why don't you tell me why you're here?"

He took a moment to look around the office. It was rather plain, and kind of boring. "I…er…don't know, yet."

The woman didn't seem surprised by his answer at all. She must have gotten it often. "Okay, well, many of the people who come to see me feel like they just need someone to talk to, so why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

The Doctor was about to start asking some questions of his own when he saw something orange move behind the woman's chair. The Doctor sat up straight, and tried to see where the fuzzy little creature had gone. His gaze fell to the corner where he saw four purple eyes staring at him, and for a moment he was glad the Jpomner had followed him. It was better than being stuck here with this strange lot with a Jpomner on the Tardis where he couldn't monitor it. As long as he could keep the thing's attention on him without making it obvious to the woman in front of him he could maybe grab it and run out of here before the woman noticed. "What are you staring at?"

Well so much for that plan. He tried to make it appear as though he was just staring at nothing. "Your walls are rather bare, you know that."

She gave a small shrug. "I find it usually keeps patients from being distracted."

The Doctor suddenly turned his attention back to the woman. "I'm sorry, patients?"

She folded her arms over her chest. "Oh, come now, Mr. Smith. That is how I refer to those I help. I don't like the way some refer to their patients as clients. It makes it sound like I'm a lawyer, or something, and I hate lawyers...well at least all the ones I've dealt with."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "And in what way do you help people?"

The woman looked genuinely surprised at him. "Psychotherapy, and other things that psychologists do, of course. Your friend didn't tell you who I was, and you just contact my office on a whim without knowing anything about me?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. This was just bloody perfect. He couldn't have just ended up on the surface of an ice planet. No, that was too easy. "I told you I don't know why I'm here. Honestly, I just kind of showed up."

She scoffed, and probably would have laughed if it wasn't for the setting. "No one just kind of shows up at my office, it just doesn't work that way."

He smirked at her. "Yeah, well, I did."

She tilted her head to the side. This was a strange man indeed. "You seem as though you feel like you must always be right."

The Doctor stood and began to pace. "What do you know; I finally found something I hate more than archeologists."

She stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, and what would that be?"

He stopped pacing to glare at her. "Psychologists"

She completely ignored his comment, and continued on with her questions. "Why do you hate archeologists, anyway?"

The Doctor was about to answer, but before he could the Jpomner lunged for the back of the therapist's head. He grabbed her forearm, and pulled her away before it could latch onto her. "I have my reasons."

The Jpomner was now sitting on her chair staring at both of them. "What in the world is that?"

The Doctor glanced over at her expecting to see fear, but oddly enough the shrink didn't seem frightened at all. He assumed it was because she didn't want to show fear in front of her 'patient'. "I think it's some kind of mutated cat, or something."

She made a face that reminded him of someone, but he couldn't think of whom at the moment. "Oh give me a break, that thing," she pointed at the creature, "might be furry, but you don't actually expect me to believe that it is some form of mutated cat. Do you?"

The Doctor shrugged. It was worth a try. "What makes you think I know what it is, anyway?"

She rolled her eyes and gazed at him like it should be obvious. "You were staring at it before, and you had this sparkle in your eyes--like it was a good thing you spotted it. That makes me think you either know what it is, or like strange orange fluffy things with purple eyes. I was hoping it was the first one."

She was smart he could give her that, but he still didn't like therapists. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

She folded her arms over her chest again, and turned toward him. "What makes you think that?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're a psychologist. Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, so I'm not wasting my breath."

This man was strange and infuriating. He kind of reminded her of her ex husband, which was decidedly not a good thing. "First off, you seem rather quick to judge people before you know them. You might want to work on that. It might help you become more personable. Second, I might surprise you, and third, somehow, I see you as being the more talkative sort…not less."

"What? Who said I'm not personable?" She gave him a glare. "Now who's judging people before they know them?" The Doctor saw the Jpomner move out of the corner of his eye. "We should run now."

"What" The therapist turned back to look at the orange creature once more. Why did they always have to look back? Couldn't they just run when he said run? Why wasn't it just that simple?

"Run!" He grabbed her hand, and took off running before the Jpomner jumped off the chair after them. Donna was right there was an awful lot of running involved. That thought hurt, but he didn't have a lot of time to think on that he needed to lose the shrink and get back to the Tardis before..."Jackie Tyler!" He yelled suddenly.

"What." The woman pulled him through a side door that led to the fire escape.

They stopped to catch their breath. "You made a face earlier that reminded me of Jackie Tyler. It was the face she gave me right after I had said something that she thought was really pathetic lie that even a child could see through." The Doctor was proud of himself for figuring it out, and then he thought about it and suddenly his face fell. "Oh, that's bad."

The psychologist stared at him like he was crazy. "Who is Jackie Tyler? I think I might like her."

They heard scratching at the metal door behind them. "Never mind, come on!" They took off down the fire escape and ran out of the alley below.

The woman looked around he was still holding onto her hand. "Where to now?"

He released her hand. "You can go wherever you want. I have to find the Tardis."

The way she scrunched up her face in confusion was almost comical. "Tard-a-what-ist? And what about that thing that's after us?"

He rolled his eyes again. Tard-a what-ist. Now that irked him. "Tardis, and it should follow me."

She eyed him skeptically. "Should?"

He shrugged. "Anything is possible?"

She nodded. "I guess, although many things are highly unlikely."

He grabbed his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "Yeah, now I need to find the Tardis."

She was eyeing him again. "And what exactly is a Tardis?"

He would have rubbed his temples had he not been fiddling with his sonic screwdriver. "Long story…looks like a blue police box."

She titled her head to the side again. "From the 50s, with a light on the top?"

"Yeah, seen it?" From her tone of voice he could tell his day was finally getting better.

"Oh, parking lot…follow me," she spun in the opposite direction from where they were facing, and took off at a brisk pace. "I saw it when I came back from lunch. It's a nice shade of blue. So, what was that thing that you pulled out of your pocket?"

She wasn't slow, he could add that onto the list of reason not to completely despise her, but she was still a therapist. "What? You mean this?" He pulled out the sonic screwdriver again, and she nodded. "It's a sonic screwdriver."

She picked up the pace when they got closer to the parking lot. "Right, because a regular screwdriver just isn't enough."

He quickened his steps to match hers. "It's not actually, and what did you say your name was again?"

She stopped to stare at him like he'd suddenly grown two heads, and he almost wanted to check and make sure he hadn't. "I didn't say, and it's not important."

Rose would have called his facial expression a pout, but it was most certainly not a pout. "Oy, that's my line."

She folded her arms over her chest again, and suddenly seemed very intimating. Well, for a human female anyway. She probably would have been more intimating if Time Lords got intimated. "You never answered my question. Why should I answer yours?"

He kept from rolling his eyes only because he wasn't sure what she would do in this close proximity, but it was such a female--of any species, answer. "And what question might that be?"

Her face was flushed with either anger or frustration. He couldn't tell which, but he didn't like it either way. "What is that thing that's chasing us…erm…you, I guess."

He stepped around her and continued over to where the Tardis had parked itself. "It's called a Jpomner, it's an alien from another world called Jpenta. It's a bright world, and when I say bright I mean bright. All of the soil on the planet is a fuschia color."

"Ooookay," she drawled out the word, "and why is it after us…erm…you?"

His eyes were wide. "Wait, you aren't going to go all crazy, and tell me aliens--real aliens from outer space don't exist?"

She shook her head. "Why? Of course aliens exist."

He wasn't falling for this. No way…no how. "Oh, right, I know this one. In the vast voids of my mind they exist. Yeah, yeah, I get it…therapist." He mumbled the last word under his breath as though it was an insult.

She smiled sweetly at him. "You know, I became a therapist to help people. Among those people are those who have had encounters with aliens, and such. I often help them to understand, or at least deal with the experience."

He folded his arms over his chest as he rolled his eyes. "Riiiight."

She took a stance much like his, and tapped her foot. "Oh come on," she began listing things and counting them off with her fingers, "the Christmas star, the Titanic replica almost hitting Buckingham Palace, and everything else that goes on here? How oblivious do you think the human race really is?"

The Doctor smiled, as he thought that this therapist might not be so bad after all. "You'd be surprised, and I take it you've realized I'm not human."

She smiled as she rolled her eyes at him. "You knew what that thing was, your clothes kind of scream 'not of this world', your name is not John Smith--I knew that the moment I met you, your hair…well let's not go there, and you got really defensive when you thought I wasn't going to believe you. It is a bit obvious when you think about it."

His grin grew as he listened to her talk, except for that whole clothes and hair thing…especially the hair thing. There was nothing wrong with his hair. "You're brilliant. I'll give you that."

She chuckled lightly. "Yeah, so why is that J-j…whatever it's called after you?"

His gaze fell to the ground for a moment. "It wants a mate."

She stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "So, it wants a friend."

He glanced up at her and shook his head. "No, it wants a mate."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Ah, well, that is problematic, isn't it?"

The Doctor placed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Not really, I just have to feed it some chocolate covered espresso beans, it'll fall asleep within a few seconds of devouring them, and then I can take it back to it's home world in the Zenta Galaxy."

"Chocolate covered espresso beans?" Her perplexed look was mixed with disbelief. "But isn't that just sugar and caffeine? Wouldn't that just make the poor thing hyperactive?"

He thought about a hyperactive Jpomner and would have laughed if he hadn't had that incident that one time. He mentally shook his head and continued. "Nah, caffeine works differently on Jpomners. It puts them right to sleep."

She nodded once. "Well, that's good."

There was just something about the way she said it--like it was good for a reason. "Oh, why's that?"

"Because it just latched itself onto your Tardis, and it is about to lunge at you." She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the way before the Jpomner could attack.

The Doctor glanced from the little orange creature now in front of them on the ground to the woman standing beside him. "Oh, good move."

"I've got one better." She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small brown paper bag. "Here you go buddy." She threw the bag at the Jpomner and it quickly gulped down what was inside. She turned to face The Doctor.

"Chocolate covered espresso beans." They spoke simultaneously.

He grinned from ear to ear as he watched the Jpomner slowly drift to sleep. "Oh, you are too good."

She gave him a small curtsy. "So, I assume we pick up that Jpomner, place it in your lovely blue box, and what? I never see you again, right?"

"Well, you could come with me." The words were out of his mouth before he had even registered what he had said, and when they finally did register he couldn't believe he had just invited a psychologist to come travel with him. His thoughts were interrupted by…laughter. She was laughing. He had invited her to come travel the universe with him, and she was laughing. "What's so funny?"

"YOU!" She suddenly couldn't keep herself from laughing.

The Doctor stared at her as though she had suddenly gone mad. "Me? What about me?

She took a moment to compose herself. "You don't even know my name, and yet you invited me into your spaceship, your home, your life, and hell your world. You are one strange little alien man."

He walked over and picked up the now sound asleep Jpomner. "Yeah, but I'm fun. So, do you want a look inside?" He shifted the creature in his arms as he opened the door. He'd save the finger snapping for when she got all high and mighty on him.

The psychologist followed him in silently. Once inside she looked around and turned toward him. "So, it's bigger on the inside than the outside?

He set the Jpomner down in a crate and turned back to her. "Yup, you want pop outside and back again? It's what they all do."

She shrugged. "Why? I get it bigger on the inside. I assume advance technology that humans will never be able to fathom. I got it. I'm good."

He gawked at her with his mouth gaping open. "You take all the fun out of everything."

She smiled sweetly once more. "Yup."

The End


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor sat there thinking about how exactly he got himself into his current predicament. He knew it was a long way to the Zenta Galaxy, but that really didn't explain why he had…well told her everything about everything. Maybe the lady was right. Maybe he was too talkative, and that was another thing that irked him. He still didn't have her name. That wasn't how meetings with him went. He was the one that didn't give out a name--just an occupation, not his companion--a psychologists, he hated psychologist. Not to mention he was still irritated about the way she had become his companion. The only upside to having her with him was the fact that she had a nice supply of chocolate covered espresso beans, even if she wouldn't let him have any. Apparently he was already too hyper, or something, and it was like her one weakness. She was practically addicted to the things, but that was okay because she shared with the Jpomner and that kept it asleep, and not running around the Tardis, which was a good thing.

The Doctor's thoughts were interrupted when the woman cleared her throat. "So, what you're telling me is you wiped Donna's mind for your own benefit, not hers."

The Doctor stared at her as though she was crazy. He saved Donna's life by wiping her mind. How could anyone see that as personal gain? "What do you mean my own benefit?"

She took a hair tie from her jacket pocket, and put her long dark hair up in a neat bun. "From what you've told me of Donna she wasn't…erm…isn't the type of person who would have wanted what you to take her memories, and don't give me that look. I'm not saying she would have wanted to die if there was a better alternative, but I think she would have chosen death over the alternative that you gave her. Don't give me that look either. I didn't contradict myself. To her going back to the life she had before she met you was worse than death."

The Doctor stood there stunned for a moment. "That still doesn't mean I did it for my own personal gain."

The psychologist gave him a look that just screamed 'you have got to be kidding me'. "Could you really deal with a death of someone close to you if that person didn't have to die? No, I don't think you could. At least, not if you personally could have prevented it. Don't act like you didn't know what Donna really wanted. She would have never wanted to go back to her life before she met you, nor would she have wanted to forget you and all of the wonderful things you said she did. And you knew that from the moment she stepped foot into this place for the second time."

The Doctor was silent. What was he really supposed to say to that? She clearly didn't understand anything at all. "I suppose the next thing you are going to tell me is that I left the other me in the other dimension for some ulterior motive."

She shrugged and smiled sweetly. "You did."

"What? How could you say that?" The Doctor was fuming. He thought about opening the doors and shoving her out, and he probably would have too, if, you know, he did that type of thing.

She sighed as she shook her head slightly. "I think we both know the real reason you left him there. You didn't want to deal with yourself. I think you were and are too afraid to face yourself. Maybe the reason you are constantly traveling is because you are constantly running away."

He was not going to use his sonic screwdriver to increase her brain cell production and watch her head explode, no matter how much he wanted to. "Oh really? Running away from what exactly? I don't know if I've mentioned this to you, but I don't have a home anymore."

She could tell he was getting defensive. It was a natural reaction when one, such as herself, figured out a person's…erm…Time Lord's true self. "What's to stop you from making a new home on a different world? Yes, you like to travel. Yes, you probably would get bored in one place. Yes, you are far too hyperactive, but there is more to it than that. You are running away from yourself, your past, your life, and all of the things you can't or won't deal with."

The Doctor didn't know what to say. "You just just just…" The end of his sentence trailed off. He didn't even know how to finish that sentence, but that was okay because she did it for him.

She just stared at him with that small little grin that just screamed 'I won'. "I just psychoanalyzed you? Is that what you meant?"

Oh, she was good, but no one was that good. He began to wonder if he had any proof that she was human. Maybe she was an alien--an evil alien. Then he could leave her on a desert planet somewhere far away from him--for the good of the universe, of course. "Yeah, but why? No wait, better question. What about you?"

She seemed truly confused, and he thought that maybe just maybe he had gotten the upper hand. "What do you mean? What about me?"

"You still have yet to tell me your name." The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you hiding?"

She smiled again. That evil little smile that just radiated what she thought, and this one said that she had captured him in a Racknos web. "So, let me get this straight. You are upset with me for not giving you my name, even though you have yet to show the same courtesy to anyone you have met."

"Yes" The word was out of his mouth before he had even thought about it, and now all he could think was wait that wasn't what he had meant to say.

She crossed her legs and tapped one foot in mid air as she gave him THAT look. He knew THAT look. Females gave him that look when they were really annoyed with him. "I think your real problem with me is the fact that normally people are so amazed by you and the whole alien thing that they don't see what is really behind all that fast talk and technology."

"Oh, and what do you think is behind the fast talk and technology?" Damn it! He hadn't meant to ask her that either. He didn't want to continue this conversation. Hell, he didn't even want to start this conversation. How the hell did get himself into this mess? Where was a plot to destroy the universe that only he could stop when he needed one? Those things always happened at the worst of times, but never the best. The best time for that being right about now, of course.

"I see a sad little man who has never actually tried to come to terms with any of his past. You know why you hate therapists so much?" He shook his head afraid to speak. She had a fire in her eyes that almost screamed 'kill'. "Psychologists can see through all of your crap. I can see through the entire happy-go-lucky tough exterior, and you know what else?" He motioned for her to continue because he knew she was going to anyway. "I don't hate what I see, which what you fear. You don't like who you are, or at least who you used to be, and you fear that if someone sees through the facade you put up then they will hate you as much as you do."

The Doctor stood towering over her as he stared straight at her. His eyes danced with so many emotions she couldn't tell what he was thinking. "That does it! I know what you are. You're a Psiholog from the planet Ererun."

The End


End file.
